Miss Me Yet?

Recently I had a delightful discussion with a democratic acquaintance of mine regarding the leadership of our country. The opposing view was that our current president is undoubtedly the “best president we ever had”. His argument is that Obama's ability to manage this nation is solely based on him being an extremely intelligent man established by the fact that he graduated from Harvard Law School. President Obama is indeed an Harvard Law School graduate, no one can take that from him, and there is no doubt that he is intelligent, however, is that what qualifies him to lead the country? Let’s examine Obama’s credentials.

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He won the election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004. Obama's presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination.


According to my democratic colleague, George W. Bush was simply a bumbling idiot who was not fit to run a convenience store. Now, I am not President Bush’s greatest fan either, but I would propose that we place the resumes of both of these men side by side and allow the reader to evaluate them.

So, let us now analyze Bush’s qualifications. George W. Bush is one of only two American presidents to be the son of a preceding president. After graduating from Yale University in 1968. Served with the Texas Air National Guard and the Alabama Air National Guard until 1974 and graduated from Harvard Business School in 1975 with an MBA. Bush worked in his family's oil businesses creating Arbusto Energy, later becoming Bush Exploration, which in 1984 merged with Spectrum 7. Afterwards, Bush served on the board of Harken Energy. He co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team from 1989 to 1998. Defeated Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and held this office until his election to the presidency in 2000.

To review, Bush graduated from Yale and Harvard Universities, served in the military, lead several businesses and governed the State of Texas. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, worked as a community organizer, a civil rights attorney, a constitutional law professor, Illinois State Senator and United States Senator. That is what genuinely qualified these two men for the presidency. Except, one actually managed several enterprises, served in the military and governed a state, the other was a lawyer, a professor and a politician.

This lack of administrative experience is now evident in the polls and the itinerary this country is taking. So let us examine both of these presidents’ approval ratings a year into office, Obama 46% vs. Bush 60%. My question to you is: Why is Obama more qualified to manage this country than Bush? If intelligence is measured by your education, why is Obama so much smarter than Bush, when both men graduated from Harvard? What has Obama done so far as President, that you are so found of?
To quote my friend Sunoco: "Common sense is just not that common any more."

Blue - Approve 
Red - Disapprove
Green - Indifferent

George W. Bush ratings through his eight year administration.